


he loves me. he loves me not. (ON HOLD)

by nutmegalomania



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Flower Shop, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru Angst, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru Fluff, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Possibly Unrequited Love, Slow Burn, Slow Romance, Temporarily Unrequited Love, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:01:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 11,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27203525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nutmegalomania/pseuds/nutmegalomania
Summary: Oikawa Tooru knew falling in love with his best friend wasn’t the best idea, but that didn’t stop him from liking Iwaizumi Hajime. It didn’t help that he used the excuse of being “friends” to remain as close to Hajime as possible either. After deciding to work at Hajime’s family-run flower shop, Tooru couldn’t help falling deeper in love with Hajime. He hoped Hajime would harbor at least a sliver of his feelings, but he couldn’t tell any more with all the mixed messages. Did Hajime love him or not?
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime & Oikawa Tooru, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	1. yellow carnation

The smell of flowers invaded Tooru’s nose and threatened to make him sneeze his brains out with the way the scent scratched at the inside of his nostrils. He hated flowers and their disgusting smell, and the fact that he had a pollen allergy, which being around flowers several days a week for many hours didn’t help, served to make everything ten thousand times worse. Though, he’d never tell these two tidbits of _very important_ information to his best friend of several years, Iwaizumi Hajime. Tooru would never admit that deciding to work at the flower shop owned by Hajime’s parents was a horrible experience for him, especially not when the job allowed him to stand in the same room as Hajime for several hours, ogling the way his muscles bulged or contracted as he lifted heavy pots of plants. 

Warm rays of sunlight streamed through the large windows and casted yellow beams across Tooru that left him relaxing his tense body into the heat. The Closed sign hung on the glass doors and begged to be switched to Open, but Tooru had no plans to change it anytime soon, not when Hajime and his parents were out visiting the markets for more flower pots. They entrusted the shop to Tooru, but he knew they didn’t 100% trust him to handle everything—not that he blamed them. Before Hajime left, he grabbed Tooru’s shoulders, brought his face close enough that Tooru could feel his minty breath fanning across his own face, and told him to not do anything until they returned. He was to stand in the same spot at the counter until Hajime or one of his parents returned and flipped the sign.

Tooru’s phone buzzed in his back pocket, and after pulling it out, he turned it on to see a text from Hajime. He would have preferred a love confession over the text he received that told him he had to wait another 30 minutes as Hajime’s mother was busy bargaining with sellers for cheaper prices. With a sigh, he checked the time and dropped his head down onto the counter he leaned against when it read 7:39 am. The shop tended to open at 7:30 on the dot, but regular customers were told that today would be an exception as the owners had to pick a few things up. That, however, didn’t stop a few people from standing outside the front door, eyes peering in every so often to check if the owners had maybe returned early. Tooru stood off to the side, out of the way of their searching eyes to his relief, but the prayers he recited in his head to keep himself hidden from them weren’t answered when one person looked in his direction and made direct eye contact.

In an instant, he dropped to the floor as they walked up to the door to knock on the glass. He held his breath even though they wouldn’t be able to hear it, but he jumped when a slight rapping against the door echoed through the silent flower shop. On his hands and knees, he peered around the corner to see the person peering into the store with their hands shielding their eyes, and he shot back behind the counter before they could spot him again. The sickening smell of flowers suffocated him, and he pulled his legs into his chest, arms encircling them as he hid his face in his knees. His body begged for Hajime, his lungs five seconds away from squeezing any breathable air out of him until he passed out. He needed the comforting smell of Hajime that reminded him of a cozy wooden cabin deep in an evergreen forest during winter, extra plus if he could hug the man and feel like he was in front of a campfire.

Tooru sat on the floor, trying to suck in deep breaths, but the flowers restricted the air into his nose, and invisible thorny vines wrapped around his lungs and threatened to squeeze all the air out. Instead of deep breaths, he let out shaky ones that left his body trembling as his throat felt raw and stung. His fingernails tore at the skin beneath his collar, the flesh itching as small bumps broke out on the surface. As he sat on the floor, the sound of muffled voices reached his ears, and he dared a glance around the counter to see a small group of people standing outside the door while talking amongst each other. He pulled out his phone to check the time, heart dropping when he saw it was only 7:43. He didn’t want to leave these people waiting any longer as they seemed restless with the way they shuffled on their feet and glanced around inside the shop, but he also didn’t want to annoy Hajime by disobeying what was asked of him. On one hand, he could make the customers happy, but on the other, he would make Hajime mad. Or he could make the customers wait until they got tired and left but make Hajime happy. 

He pondered the two options for a few seconds before he took a deep breath, throat burning and chest aching, and pushed himself off the floor. He plastered on his best customer-service smile, cleared his throat, ignoring the scratching and stinging pain that spread, and opened the door. The customers jumped back when the bell jingled as the glass door opened in front of them, and a few gave Tooru a confused look. After he made sure his voice wouldn’t sound disgusting and croaky, he spoke.

“I apologize for leaving you all outside. I’m the only one here, but I can help you if you need any assistance,” he said with a dazzling smile that left the customers smiling back at him. 

He kicked the wedge under the door and ushered inside for the customers, who bowed to him before entering. They spread out to look for what they came for, and the edge of Tooru’s lip twitched upwards as he looked at the fascinated look in the customers’ eyes as they perused the vast selection of flowers offered. He felt a tickling sensation in his throat, and he turned away from the open door to cough into his elbow, cringing as his throat rubbed dry from the heavy bursts of air leaving his chest. He scratched at the irritated skin beneath his shirt collar.

“Oikawa-kun!” a customer called, and Tooru turned back to see who said his name.

A familiar elderly woman flashed him a smile, her eyes disappearing behind the apples of her cheeks as crows feet spread from the edges of her hidden eyes. He returned her bright smile with a toothy grin as he walked over to her. Once he stood in front of him, he bent over to allow her to rub his cheek and ruffle his hair. 

“It’s good to see you doing well, Oikawa-kun,” she said, and he let out a pleased hum as her fingers worked through his tousled hair.

“Thank you. You look as beautiful as ever, Suzuki-chan.,” he said, and she chuckled, a sound that reminded him of a fluffy little hamster he wanted to treasure forever. “Is there anything you need help with, Suzuki-chan?”

“I would very much like to get a flower for my granddaughter. She just entered a big company, so I wish to cheer her on and help her feel less nervous,” Suzuki told him, and Tooru hummed in thought as he rubbed his chin and stood straight.

“Well, I’d say a bunch of daffodils would be perfect for her as they symbolize new beginnings and good fortune. Just make sure you give her a bunch instead of a single one, or else it will mean misfortune. Plus, your granddaughter looks beautiful with yellow, so I think the flowers would fit her very well,” he said.

Suzuki flashed him another smile and patted the side of his arm. “She would, wouldn’t she? Thank you, sweetie. You’re always such a big help.”

Tooru tilted his head to the side and smiled back. “Anything for my favorite person in the world.” 

Suzuki let out another hamster giggle that made Tooru’s tight chest feel lighter and ruffled his hair once more. “You flatter me too much.”

“I’ll get you your daffodils. If you’d like, you can look around at others until I’m done or you can wait at the counter.” 

“I’ll wait at the counter. I like watching you cut the flowers. You handle them so delicately as if they’ll shatter in your hands. It makes you look like a gentle prince,” the elderly woman said as she hobbled towards the counter, and Tooru pulled the clippers out of the pocket of his apron to snip the stalks of the daffodils for Suzuki. She watched as he snipped each stalk, and once he had a bunch in his hands, he held his breath to keep the smell from invading his nose and irritating his throat before he walked over to her to ready them for her to take home. 

He wrapped a wet paper towel around the cut stalks and tied the stalks together with a rubber band before he handed it to her. She handed him the money after he told her the price, and he walked with her to the door, a hand resting on her shoulder as they moved. At the door, he bent down and let her pat the side of his face with a warm hand.

“It’s a shame that a beautiful boy such as yourself doesn’t have a girlfriend,” she said, and Tooru tensed, though he kept a tight smile on his face. 

His last girlfriend had been in high school, and she had dumped him because he spent too much time talking about sports or hanging out with Hajime instead of spending it with her. Hajime still used that sore spot to knock him down a peg, and he regretted telling him the truth after the break up left him down.

“I’m too busy with college and the shop to worry about getting a girlfriend. I think I’ll stay single for a year or two more,” he said with a chuckle, and she nodded her head. The skin on his forearm burned, and he scraped at the exposed skin. When he glanced down, the red, raised skin on his arm stared back up at him, and he unrolled his sleeve to cover it up, hoping Suzuki hadn’t seen it.

She turned to leave, but before she could take a step, Tooru tapped her shoulder. When she looked back at him, he held up a single hibiscus flower for her. She gasped and felt a soft petal between her fingers.

“What is this for?”

“The hibiscus flower means delicate beauty, and I thought it would fit you perfectly.” He brought a hand up to her gray hair and stroked it back with a finger, tucking the flower behind her ear. He stepped back and smiled. “I was right. It looks beautiful in your hair, Suzuki-chan.” 

She hid her face as a blush spread across her wrinkled cheeks, and Tooru beamed at her response to his compliment. “If only I were a few decades younger. I’d for sure snag you for myself!” 

“You’re already snagging me the way you are right now,” he said as he kissed the knuckles of her hand before he gave her a wink. She gave him a playful slap to the side of his arm to tell him to stop playing, and after a few more seconds of arguing that he wasn’t lying to her, she left with a ruffle of his hair and a bid farewell, saying she’d come again just for him. 

He bowed to her as she left, waving at her hobbling figure as it disappeared into the busy streets, and turned back to the shop to see who needed more assistance, a bright smile on his face. Suzuki never failed to make his chest all bubbly from the way she treated him, and he couldn’t wait until she returned another day. He’d for sure brag to Hajime about his favorite customer. 

His eyes scanned the store, and they widened when he spotted a tottering figure off to the side. A large pot rested on the edge of a shelf, a young woman struggling to reach it with her height. She tried to jump to grab it, but on her way down, her footing slipped. Tooru ran over to her as fast as he could, slipping an arm around her waist to steady her as he pushed the pot back onto the shelf to keep it from falling onto her. 

“Ah… I’m-I’m sorry!” the woman said once she had recovered from the shock, and she bowed to Tooru several times, who scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile on his face as the other customers glanced over at them.

“It’s all right! I’m just glad you weren’t hurt. Don’t be afraid to call me over next time,” he told her, and she nodded.

“I will. I’m sorry.” She bowed once more.

“So do you want to look at the flower up there?” he asked her as he pointed up towards the pot that almost crushed the woman. 

She clutched her hands in front of her legs and nodded her head, eyes avoiding his as she bit her bottom lip and looked off to the side. Tooru reached up and flinched as the cold from the clay pot touched his palms. In the heat of the moment where he saved the woman, his mind had been too preoccupied with making sure she was uninjured that he didn’t realize how cold the pot had been. He clutched it between his hands and plucked it off from the shelf before he set it down on the ground in front of the woman.

“This pot is filled with African Daisies. In fact, I think it’s _too_ full, so I’ll make sure to talk to the owners about changing the potting once they return. Daisies symbolize innocence and purity. If you want to congratulate a new mother, these would be a good gift.” Tooru pursed his lips when the woman stared at the flowers in silence, and he realized he had been talking without asking her more questions. “May I ask what you are looking at these for? I may be able to find you the flower you want if I know what the occasion is.”

“I’ll take a few daisies. They’re for my sister who just had a child yesterday. I think these will work. Thank you,” she said, and he smiled at her with a tilted head.

“I’ll get you a bouquet of daisies right now. Feel free to look around until I’m finished so that you can pay. Also, congratulations on becoming an aunt.” 

The woman nodded to him, and he clipped several daisies from the shop to create a bouquet, and once he finished, the woman came up to pay for it before she left him with a bow and burning ears. His fingernails pricked at his neck as he scratched at the tingling skin.

Tooru ran around the shop, helping out with the customers who needed him. Before long, the backdoor opened, and the sound of several footsteps made Tooru’s chest swell with glee. He rushed over to see Hajime and his parents lugging several clay pots and a cart of smaller pots along. He ran forward to help relieve the struggle of Hajime’s mother, and she let out a sigh of relief as he took the heavy pot from her hands. 

She stretched her back with a groan as it popped. “Thank you, Tooru-chan.” He nodded, and she leaned against the counter. “God, were those pots heavy! I thought my back was about to break.”

“It’s no problem, Aiko-san. Make sure you take a break and rest your back,” Tooru told her as he moved the large pot into the back room behind Hajime, Hajime’s father dragging in the cart of smaller pots behind them. 

Hajime set down the pot in his hand and grabbed the pot from Tooru’s hands, their hands brushing against each other and sending shockwaves through Tooru’s body. He took in a deep breath as Hajime’s familiar scent entered his nose and relaxed his body. All he wanted to do was wrap his arms around his wide back and rest his cheek against his warm upper back. Instead, his eyes remained fixated on the man’s back as the muscles flexed beneath his white shirt with each movement he made to organize the pots. When Hajime turned back around to grab another pot from his hands, Tooru snapped out his thoughts.

After they had reorganized all the new pots, they left the room, and Tooru let out a grunt as he bumped into Hajime when the man stopped in front of him. Tooru gulped when he saw Hajime’s neck tense, and his body tensed when the man turned around to look at him.

“Why are there customers inside the store?” 

Tooru’s saliva dried out, and his tongue felt heavy in his mouth. Instead of full blown anger like Tooru had expected, Hajime’s tone remained even as the words rolled off his tongue. Hajime’s parents stopped in their tracks at the icy words leaving their son’s mouth, and they watched with rigid bodies as they waited for the scene in front of them to unfold.

“They were waiting, and I wasn’t sure when you’d be back, so I decided to hold down the fort until you all arrived. Nothing bad happened, Iwa-chan,” Tooru told him after his tongue stopped feeling like lead in his mouth, his throat stinging as the words pushed through the raw walls of his esophagus. He fiddled with his hands in front of him as he tried to avoid Hajime’s eyes, but the anger burning inside them made it impossible to look away.

“Did I ask you to do that?” Hajime’s eyes glared into Tooru’s.

“Well… N-no, but it was fine. Everything went well.”

Hajime pinched at the bridge of his nose and released an exasperated sigh. “Okay, and what if it didn’t? What the hell would you have done if you or a customer were injured? Who would be able to help you? Did you think any of this through before you did it, or did you just want to try to show off? Because it didn’t work!” Tooru flinched as his tone raised at the end of his sentence. Hajime took a deep breath and rested his hands on his hips. “Why didn’t you wait? It was only 30 minutes that you had to not do anything!” 

Tooru’s mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water, words unable to form on his heavy tongue. His throat burned with unspoken words as his eyes stung. Hajime opened his mouth to chastise Tooru more, but a voice interrupted him. 

“Hajime. Leave Tooru-chan alone,” Hajime’s mother said. “He did his best alone, and everything turned out well, so stop being harsh on him.”

“But he didn’t listen to me. What would we have done if someone got hurt or we lost several plants?” Hajime replied.

“Then we would have dealt with it ourselves,” his father added in, and Hajime turned to him, ready to argue back.

“I’m sorry, Iwa-chan. I won’t do it again,” Tooru said to relieve the tension forming between Hajime and his parents. At those words, Hajime whipped around on him and fixed him with an angry glare, the corner of his lip twitching. An angry finger poked at Tooru’s chest.

“You better not, or I swear-”

“Hajime! Don’t you _dare_ finish that sentence.” The disappointed tone in his father’s voice stopped Hajime from finishing. “Go cool your head off and return once you’ve calmed down,” his father told him, and he tsked and gave one last irritated glare at Tooru before he stomped out the back, leaving Tooru alone with his parents and customers in the store.

As silence spread throughout the store, Tooru pivoted around on his feet to look at the customers that fixed him and Hajime’s parents with surprised expressions. He bowed to them in apology for the scene they witnessed, Hajime’s parents joining him. The customers returned to perusing the store for flowers, and Tooru became busy with helping them.

Every so often, his eyes would flick towards the clock on the wall to count the passing minutes since Hajime left. Three hours passed, and the man had yet to return, which made Tooru’s heart clench as the flower scent overpowered his senses and left him five seconds away from passing out. With a deep sigh that left his chest caving in on itself, he scratched at his arm, hissing in pain when his fingernails pricked at his red skin. He looked down at his arm to see a small dot of blood spilling from where his fingernails scraped at, and he wiped at it with the pad of his thumb. Red smeared across the pad of his thumb, seeping into the grooves of his fingerprints and reminding him of how his condition was worsening. He rubbed his thumb against the pads of his other fingers to smear it around and hide the evidence while another dot of blood peeked out against his skin.

He spared one last glance at the clock as the short hand reached 11, the long hand ghosting over the 12 as the thin second hand ticked past it at a pace he found too slow. His shoulders slouched as his body deflated, and Hajime’s mother noticed. She walked up to him and placed a soft hand on his back, and Tooru flinched under her touch before he relaxed and turned to look at her.

“Is something wrong, Aiko-san?” he asked, and she shook her head as her hand rubbed circles against his back.

“You just seem out of it, Tooru-chan. Hajime will most likely not return until the shop closes, so don’t worry about him too much. You, on the other hand, have been scratching at your arm for the past three hours.” Before he could say anything, she grabbed his wrist and pulled his forearm up for her eyes to rake over. Her eyes widened as she saw a small smudge of blood on his arm, the red skin around it raised in one large, flat bump. “Are you all right? This looks painful!”

Tooru pulled his arm from her grasp and shook his hands in front of him. “It’s fine! Just a little irritated,” he told her with a forced smile as it felt like an infestation of ants scurried around beneath the skin of his rash, but she quirked an eyebrow at him.

She crossed her arms in front of her and cocked her hip out. “Hmm… Why do I find that hard to believe?” She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Just go clock out now. You still seem shaken up from Hajime’s outburst, so get yourself under control too.”

“But- I couldn’t do that to you guys. I can still work until my shift really ends. It hasn’t even been 4 hours yet,” he told her, but she only shook her head again, planting her hands on his shoulders to push him towards the changing room.

“Takashi and I have this under control. You should take care of yourself first.”

“But-”

“No buts! Get yourself out of here and relax in your apartment until you’re feeling better. My husband and I may be old, but we’ve been in this business for over 30 years. Don’t underestimate us geezers! Now _go!_ ” 

With one last push, she shoved him into the changing room and shut the door on him. Instead of arguing any longer, which he knew wouldn’t help change her stubborn mind, he opened his locker. His fingers picked at the buttons of his shirt, popping them and opening the front of his shirt. He sighed as he noticed the streaks of red rashes across his stomach and chest. He ran the pads of his fingers across the bumps, flinching when pain spread through his skin. 

“Guess I’ll have to put some ointment on again,” he said to himself with a sigh as he grabbed a t-shirt from his locker and slipped it on over his head. As he finished dressing, he glanced at his phone, waiting for the screen to light up with a text or call from Hajime.

Except it never happened.

Tooru let out a deep breath as he picked up his phone and slid it into his pocket. He bowed and apologized to Aiko and Takashi about leaving early, to which they assured him it was fine and that he should rest up and come back at full strength, before he left the shop to head back to his apartment. He looked at the parking spaces, heart clenching when he noticed Hajime’s motorcycle missing from its designated spot—or so Tooru called it because he made Hajime park in the same spot every time. It should have been obvious that Hajime would have taken his own ride to get out of the place, but when it was also _Tooru's_ ride too, it left a hollow feeling in his chest. 

Every day, without fail, Hajime would drive up to Tooru’s apartment complex, shoot him a text to let him know he had arrived, and then the two of them would head off to either university or the shop, depending on the day and time. Because Hajime would pick him up, he’d also drop him off at his apartment with a goodbye nod before he’d head home himself. Knowing that wouldn’t happen today like it had the past few years of working in the shop and going to college together didn’t sit well in Tooru’s stomach. 

He shoved the hand of his rash-infested arm into his pockets and pressed the bumpy skin against his torso as he walked down the street towards the nearest bus stop, a place he hadn’t been to in several months. The last time he had ridden a bus had been when Hajime had surgery and needed to rest in his house for a week. People mulled around the sidewalks, a few stopping to wait for the next bus to arrive. Tooru joined those people and grabbed out his phone. He clicked it on to see if any text or missed call popped up, but only the time, date, and weather showed up on his lock screen. 

The bus pulled up to the stop, and the doors opened to let a stream of people exit. Once they left, the group of people at the bus stop boarded, and Tooru followed them in. After he paid the bus fare, he sat down in an empty seat and pulled out his phone to play a random game to pass the time. The bus rolled forward and started on its journey to the next stop. Before long, it stopped at another bus stop, releasing people and gaining a few more. Tooru looked at the picture of the bus stops he had taken to see how close he was to his apartment complex, and he sighed. He had 4 stops left before he was even 10 blocks away. 

His eyes drew towards the bus doors, where he saw a pregnant woman struggling to step up into the bus. He jumped up from his seat and walked over to her. He held out a hand for her, and she looked up at him with a surprised face. When he gave her a soft smile, she hesitantly grabbed his hand and let him help her up. 

“You can have my seat,” he told her, and she bowed to him as best as she could while she fished out her purse to pay the bus fare. Tooru smiled at her before he hopped off the bus.

“That man paid your bus fare already, ma’am. Just sit down until your destination,” the bus driver said before he closed the doors.

Tooru looked at his wallet as the bus drove off, the measly yen coins and bills he had left after paying the fares pitiful. He didn’t keep much physical money on himself, but maybe he should from now on.

“Guess I can get my exercise in for the week,” he said to himself as he started off towards his apartment complex, his fingers punching in the address to a GPS. This long walk could also give him time to mull over his thoughts and figure out the best way to apologize and prove his sincerity to Hajime when he next sees him. 

As his long legs covered the ground to his complex, images of an angry Hajime flashed through his mind, and he gulped as shivers ran down his spine. He had been used to Hajime getting angry at him for saying stupid things, but the anger he saw on his face today reached new levels he wished he had never discovered. If Hajime didn’t contact him before he fell asleep, he’d apologize in the morning when they met at university.

“What should I say to him though?” he wondered aloud. “‘I’m sorry for not listening. It’s just that I really wanted you to try relying on me a little bit, so I thought one day wouldn’t be that big of a deal’?” He shook his head. “‘I’m sorry for betraying your trust when you told me to not do anything. I won’t do it again’?” He clutched the sides of his head, his fingers grabbing at strands of his soft brown hair as he squatted on the ground. “How the hell am I supposed to apologize to him?! It’s not like I did anything _that_ bad, right? It was just one day, right? He’s the one who should apologize, not me, right? Agh! Fuck this shit!”

The sound of honking cars and chatter pulled him out of his thoughts, and Toory noticed a few people giving him strange looks before he realized he had stopped in the middle of the walkway to yell to himself. As heat spread to his neck, face, and ears, he got to his feet and bowed to everyone around in apology for his behavior with a soft ‘sorry’ spilling from his lips thousands of times. When the people around forgot about him, he started towards his apartment again and covered his mouth to hide his embarrassment. The sooner he got home the better. 

The passing by cars sent soft breezes of wind rustling his clothes and rubbed the cotton against his rashes, making him hiss in discomfort. Though the warm rays of the summer sun splashed over his body, he no longer felt relaxed by them like he had in the morning, and he wanted nothing more than to step into his house, blast the A/C, and flop onto his bed with his face buried in his pillow. A bead of sweat dripped down the nape of his neck and disappeared underneath the collar of his shirt. 

After a couple hours of walking, his apartment complex came into view, and he breathed a sigh of relief that made his chest lighter and mood happier. He rushed towards his apartment, fingers rustling around in his pockets to fish his keys out to open the door to his safe haven. His feet thudded on the stairs as he ran up to his floor, ignoring the elevator stuffed full of other inhabitants. He couldn’t waste time squeezing past others to sit inside an over crowded elevator, only to have to push right past them in a few moments; he needed to get inside his apartment _now_. That, and being near all those people would mean someone would rub against him and irritate his rashes. 

His heart thumped in his chest, blood pounding in his ears as heavy pants pushed past his lips, the door of his apartment standing in front of him with invisible welcoming arms. He shoved his keys into the doorknob before he twisted it and leapt into his cool apartment. A sigh of relief left him as he shut his door and peeled his shirt off, and he hissed softly as the cool air hit his rashes. As he walked deeper into his apartment towards his bathroom, he nodded to the single green gladiolus sitting in a vase atop his kitchen table.

In the bathroom, he grabbed out his ointment, groaned when he realized it was almost empty, and smeared all that he could onto his rashes before he chucked the empty ointment into his trash can. Streaks of white spread across his torso and arms, and he used the palms of his hands to rub it into the skin, a cool feeling seeping into his burning skin. His eyes stared down at the smushed tube of ointment. He’d have to spend more money on ointment tomorrow.

He stared at the empty tube longer than he should have, and once he realized it, he exited the bathroom to grab something to eat, his stomach rumbling to remind him of the lack of food it had received for the past four hours. He held his breath as he stepped past the gladiolus to his fridge, and he pulled out bread and random meats to make a sandwich to munch on while he put on a random movie he couldn’t be bothered to pay attention to. His legs crossed on the black couch as the sandwich plate nestled into his lap, half of the sandwich resting on it while the other readied itself to be eaten. 

Images flashed on the screen that he didn’t look at as he kept his attention on the phone sitting beside him on the couch, waiting for a text or call from Hajime. The sandwich disappeared on his plate down his throat that bulged and burned from the rough chunks of sandwich entering his mouth, and still no text from Hajime flashed on the phone screen. A fight scene on the TV made Tooru stop the movie, and he scooted to the arm of the couch to rest his arms on it, his chin resting atop his arms.

“How have you been, Iwa-chan?” he asked the green star gladiolus on the kitchen table a few meters away from him. “You’re looking as beautiful as always. I’ll give you some more water in a bit once these rashes calm down. How does that sound?”

Silence met him, but a smile spread on his face regardless thanks to the feeling of normalcy this gave him. Even if the scuffle with Hajime was something out of the ordinary that messed up his usual status quo, he could always rely on Iwa-chan, his gladiolus, to cheer him up. Tooru pouted as he looked at the space between him and the kitchen table, but he couldn’t take any chances, especially not when he was just now trying to calm down his allergies.

“Sorry, Iwa-chan. I don’t mean to be all the way over here when I talk to you, but when I’m next to you, my throat closes up, I have a hard time breathing, and my chest feels like it's constricting.” His eyes widened, and he clutched the side of his face. “Ooh, that makes it sound like I’m experiencing serious love side effects, and while I am in love with Iwa-chan, he does not make me feel like passing out from allergies like you do, Iwa-chan. He also doesn’t die every few months, so there are a lot of differences between the two of you, I guess.” 

His throat felt scratchy as he spoke to the flower, and he rubbed his neck while he cleared it, squinting as pain ripped through his esophagus. He pushed himself up from the couch to walk into his kitchen and make some honey lemon water to soothe the pain. Tooru didn’t mean to toot his own horn, but he was able to hold his breath for a full 2 minutes now thanks to constant need to walk into his kitchen for sustenance while simultaneously having to be in close proximity to a flower that, when breathed in, made him break out and hurt. 

The warmth from the cup transferred to his hands and brought a soft smile to his face as he held the fresh honey lemon water under his nose to inhale the citrus scent once he settled back onto the couch. He switched the channel on the TV to a random one, snuggling into the couch as a variety show played on the screen. He flipped his phone down so that his screen kissed the couch, and he told himself to just forget Hajime calling or texting him today. 

He took a tentative sip of the steaming liquid, scrunching up his face as he burned the tip of his tongue. The liquid slipped down his throat, and he let out a groan of discomfort as the heat burned his throat. After the burning in his throat calmed down, he focused back on the TV show. Soft laughter would leave him every so often before he’d take soft sips of his drink, tongue now numb from the burns. His throat calmed down until he could speak without feeling ready to cough up blood, and he placed the warm cup between his legs, chest hurting as the heat spread through his legs and created a false scenario inside his head. 

He imagined Hajime sitting on the floor in front of him, head resting between Tooru’s legs while he let his hair be played with. Hajime would act like he hated it, but he’d secretly enjoy it, and whenever Tooru would try to detach his hands from his hair, he would grab his hands and put them back onto his head. At least that’s what Tooru’s desperate mind came up with at the moment to help distract himself from the fact that Hajime probably hated him now and wanted nothing to do with him. 

Tooru sighed and dragged his hands over his face while he leaned his head back against the couch as his depressive thoughts swam around inside his head. He glanced at the gladiolus that seemed to look right back at him with pity. “Do you think I should try some allergy medicine?” Maybe if he could ignore his allergies, he could impress Hajime and regain his favor.

The gladiolus didn’t need to respond for him to know the obvious answer. He nodded and ordered some allergy medicine online, cursing himself for being an idiot and forgetting they existed. If anyone asked him why he didn’t try taking allergy medicine before, he’d decided to just tell them that it was because he was testing his body’s immune system. As a message popped up telling him the allergy medicine was purchased, he blew a kiss at the flower.

“Thanks, Iwa-chan. You’re a lot easier to talk to than the real Iwa-chan. I could tell you ‘I love you’ millions of times, and you won’t play it off or call me weird.” He placed his head in his hands and looked at the flower. “I love you.” Silence. “I love you _so_ much, Iwa-chan!” More silence. “I wanna kiss you so bad right now.”

“What?!” a voice said, and Tooru jumped before he realized it came from the TV.

His heart stopped pounding from that scare, and he returned his attention to the gladiolus. “See what I mean? Since you’re silent, I get to come up with what you say to fit what I want to make myself happy!” He adjusted himself on the couch until his arms hung over the arm. “Say, do you think I should apologize to Iwa-chan?”

“No, he’s in the wrong, Tooru! He should be apologizing to _you_ ,” Tooru said, deepening his voice to create a poor imitation of Hajime’s voice

“Right?! I mean, even his _parents_ said it was fine, but _no_ , he wants to get mad at _me_ for doing my job! Did he expect me to sit around for half an hour doing _nothing_?! If anything, I made him some extra money by opening earlier.” 

Tooru rolled his head to one side, smooshing his cheek against the couch arm, his arms hanging like dead weight. His lips puckered into a pout as he stared at the flower for a few moments.

“I’ll still apologize to him tomorrow. I don’t want him to stay angry and be disappointed.”

Silence.

He flopped back onto the couch and held a thumbs up for the gladiolus as his arm covered his eyes. 

“Good talk, Iwa-chan!”


	2. white tulips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry for the SUPER late update! i had meant to update in a week since the first chapter published, but then school and my part-time job said "nope." i want to try to update weekly, so i will work hard to get the next chapter out faster than this! future chapters will be around 6,000 to 8,000 words, so this chapter is on the short side, but i didn't want to take any longer on giving you guys a chapter. thank you for reading this story, and i hope you have a great day!❤️

As Tooru laid in bed, his slitted eyes stared at the small bumps dotting the large expanse of white above him. Crust threatened to screw his eyes shut, and he brought a groggy hand up to swipe it away from the corners of his lids, wincing as the rough texture scraped against his skin. Though he would deny it if anyone asked, he had, in fact, cried himself to sleep that night as thoughts of Hajime abandoning him over this scuffle popped up in his mind and wouldn’t leave. The small amount of sleep he had managed to get left him ready to flop back onto his side, grab a pillow, hug it against his body and imagine it was Hajime, and fall into a deep slumber.

The doorbell rang, unfortunately, and halted his heavy eyelids from closing shut and taking him away to dream land where he and Hajime had a family of 3 kids—two girls and one boy—and puppies and kittens. His eyes shot back open, and he sat straight up, sheets thrown to the side with the abandoned body pillow. His heart fluttered in his chest as he thought of who it could be at the door, only one name coming to mind that made giddiness bubble inside him. He jumped out of bed and scurried to the door, pushing it forward and startling Hajime who stood outside with a plastic bag in his hand while a satchel crossed his body. 

“Iwa-chan?” Tooru asked to make sure sleep wasn’t playing tricks on him.

Hajime blinked to recover from the shock of Tooru bursting out in front of him and gave the man a once over. A scowl twisted his lips as he noticed the messy bed hair, oversized shirt slipping off one shoulder, and baggy sweat pants that stopped above bare feet before his eyes returned to bloodshot and sleepy eyes. “You look like shit.”

Tooru glanced down at himself, noticing his attire, and gave an awkward chuckle. He released the door knob from his grip and leaned against the door while he ran a hand through his hair and gave Hajime a sly smirk and wink. “Is that code for I look extra sexy even though I just woke up?”

Hajime pursed his lips and closed his eyes as he let out a deep sigh through his nose to hold in his emotions. “ _ No. _ It is not. You could have gotten dressed before answering the door. We still have time before classes start, so I could have waited.”

The words in his last sentence slammed into him, and he blinked. “We have class today?”

“It’s Monday, Shittykawa. Of  _ course _ we have class!” Hajime sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. “What the hell would you have done if I didn’t remind you right now?”

Tooru puckered his lips in thought. “Probably would have slept in.”

“Your professors would  _ love _ that.”

“I know! I need my beauty sleep, so I’m sure they’d understand. Don’t you agree, Iwa-chan?” He shot him a sparkling smile, only to receive a scowl.

“Just shower and get dressed before I make you.”

Tooru covered his mouth with one hand. “Oh?” He pressed an arm against the door as he leaned down over Hajime, smirking as the man looked up at him. “Pray do tell how you’d do that. I’d love to hear the details.” He yelped in pain when Hajime reached up and grabbed his earlobe. When the man tugged on it, he winced and dragged his head down. “Okay, okay! I’ll go get ready, so please let go of my ear, Iwa-chan.” 

At those words, Hajime released his ear, and he sighed in relief at the lack of pain in his ear as he straightened himself and rubbed his earlobe to relieve the pain.

“You have strong fingers,” he said and winced as pain shot through his ear when he ran over a spot. He readied himself to head into his apartment to shower and get dressed, but as he turned, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him back to face Hajime. “What?” he asked as Hajime pulled him closer to his body.

Hajime let the plastic bag in his hand fall down onto his forearm as he brought both his hands up to grab the sides of Tooru’s face. Tooru’s heart dropped down to his stomach as Hajime looked right into his eyes, worry swirling around in his green irises. The warmth from the palms of Hajime’s hands seeped into his face, and he thanked all the gods he knew that he didn’t blush easily, or else his face would be redder than a tomato.

“You need to make sure to get more sleep in the future. Your eyes are puffy,” Hajime said as he dragged his thumbs across Tooru’s eyes, swiping the few pieces of crust he hadn’t gotten away from his eyes with a gentleness that made Tooru stop breathing.

“Are we just going to forget yesterday happened?” Tooru said as Hajime continued wiping at his eyes, and Hajime tensed the moment he said the words. He hadn’t meant for those words to slip out of his mouth, but the familiarity that Hajime was treating him with compared to the hostility from yesterday didn’t sit right with him. He had been fretting over everything last night, and for it to all be seemingly for nothing weighed down on him.

Hajime’s thumbs stopped moving, and his lips disappeared as he pursed them, hands dropping down to his sides. “Get ready first and then we can talk.”

“But-”

The plastic bag slipped back down to Hajime’s hand, where it crumpled as his hand closed into a fist. “Please.”

Tooru’s mouth opened and closed as he struggled to find words. He hadn’t expected to hear Hajime plead so desperately, and it felt strange in his ears, as if it were something worming its way into his eardrum that didn’t belong. Though he had much he wanted to say then and there, the words seemed to stick in his throat and wouldn’t come out no matter how hard he tried to speak them. Instead, he nodded his head and stepped back into his apartment, leaving the door open for Hajime to walk inside and close it behind him. 

As Hajime settled onto the couch after kicking his shoes off, his eyes settled on the gladiolus sitting atop the white kitchen table, lonely as it stood by itself in its vase. Tooru slipped into his bathroom, a pile of clothes in his hands, and once he shut the door, he let out a deep sigh and rested his forehead against the wood. He had wanted to see Hajime to apologize, but now that the man was in his apartment, he  _ couldn’t _ . A little voice in the back of his head told him that his pre-planned apologies were just a jumble of useless words that didn’t amount to anything, but at the same time it told him that he shouldn’t have to apologize at all. 

He would never admit it out loud, but he believed he was partially at fault. They say everything goes both ways, and it sure as hell did here. He didn’t listen and did something that could have turned out horribly. Hajime’s reaction  _ was _ overkill, but Tooru could understand why he would have been mad. It wasn’t just Tooru that would have been harmed if things went wrong—Hajime, his parents, and the whole shop would be affected. 

Tooru slipped his clothes off and placed them in the clothing hamper before he turned on the shower and stepped in. Warm water trickled down his body as he stood still and let it hit him. Maybe he was the one overreacting by thinking that this would end their friendship of many years, but the small voice in his head always spouted nasty words at him that made him doubt everything between him and Hajime. 

He rested the palms of his hands against the shower wall and hung his head as water poured over his body before disappearing back into the drain beneath his feet. His mind kept jumping to conclusions as to why Hajime had shown up to his apartment unannounced, and not a single one ended well for Tooru. From being told he was a horrible person to being slapped and abandoned right there, his mind didn’t shy away from pulling out all the stops to make the small ball of dread in his stomach grow in size. 

He had done worse things before than this, such as breaking Hajime’s favorite figurine that he paid more attention to than Tooru and telling the girl Hajime liked embarrassing stories about him—of which included him wetting the bed until he was 11 and mumbling random onigiri recipes in his sleep. Each time he had messed up, Hajime had forgiven him after yelling at him and beating some sense into him, but this time was different. He had received an almost angry outburst that stopped too soon.

No use thinking about it right now. Tooru washed his hair and body, watching as the suds washed away into the drain like his hope for things to turn out well. He turned off the shower and stepped out, drying his body with a towel. Fog clouded the mirror, reminding himself of his mind at the moment as coherent thoughts refused to form, and he used his towel to wipe it away. His eye bags stared back at him and taunted him, silently telling him how stupid he was for losing sleep over the inevitable. He’d go out there, listen to Hajime tell him he was tired of their friendship, try not to cry, and then break down once the man left. He nodded to himself at his plan and stepped out of the bathroom to meet Hajime, who sat on his couch with hands between his legs as he hung his head in thought.

Tooru took a deep breath to build up his impenetrable mask that he knew Hajime would still see through, but that fact didn’t matter at the moment when he just wanted to get things over so that he could wallow in self pity for a week and eat nothing but ice cream and cookie dough. His arms crossed over his chest, the pounding of his heart spreading through his torso and pressing against his arms as he leaned against the wall and fixed Hajime with an emotionless gaze. He leaned his head against the wall and let the mask fall down on his face.

“Are you going to speak now?” The words came out harsher than he had meant for them to, and they startled the rigid Hajime, who flinched and brought his eyes up to meet Tooru’s cold ones.

“I wanted to apologize for being a dick yesterday. Nothing went wrong, and yet I yelled at you like you just destroyed everything. You worked hard by yourself, but I didn’t think about that and instead scolded you for not listening to me when that wasn’t important at all. I should have acknowledged your efforts as opposed to just taking my irritation out on you. I’m sorry,” Hajiime said as his hands tightened around each other, his olive green eyes penetrating into Tooru and threatening to break the mask he wore.

“Wah! Iwa-chan apologizing?” Tooru ran over to the window and looked outside it. “Is this a dream? Are pigs flying? Did I do something good in my past life?” He covered his mouth and turned to look at Hajime, whose eyes turned from apologetic to irritated in the blink of an eye.

“What the hell are you talking about? I did something wrong, so of course I’m going to apologize. Do you really think that badly of me?” 

“No, of course not, Iwa-chan! I’m over it already, so you don’t have to worry about it,” Tooru said in dismissal, hoping to not drag this out more than necessary so that the anxieties in his mind wouldn’t become a reality and leave him dehydrated from all the tears he’d shed. 

Hajime huffed and crossed his arms, fixing Tooru with a look that told him to stop bull shitting. “Don’t lie to me. If it didn’t mean anything to you, then you wouldn’t have brought it up.”

Tooru’s lips curled into a nostalgic smile. It was so like Hajime to notice the moment he lied about something. Before the other man could notice his smile, he rolled his eyes playfully. “You got me there. To be honest, I cried myself to sleep last night thinking you hated me. But you could never hate me, could you, Iwa-chan? Not when I’m this lovable and beautiful and sexy.” He flipped his hair with the back of his hand, a smug look on his face.

“If you’re going to cry over it, then just call me, dumbass. You shouldn’t be alone with your thoughts if they’re enough to make you cry yourself to sleep. I’ll always pick up if it’s you,” Hajime told him, and Tooru’s heart clenched.

_ Stop making me fall even deeper in love, you sexy bastard. _ Tooru quirked an eyebrow to hide the pounding in his chest, and the corner of his lip pulled into a smirk as he walked closer to his friend. He placed a knee against the couch and rested an arm against the back to lean over Hajime with his smug face centimeters from his friend’s. “Does that mean you’ll pick up if I call you at 2 in the morning?”

Hajime’s eyes flitted up to his, irritation burning in them, and Tooru suppressed a sound that threatened to worm out of his mouth thanks to the way that look made him feel. “Call me at 2 a.m. and see what fucking happens, Shittykawa.” He stood up from the couch, his lips coming a hair's width close to Tooru’s, and in shock, Tooru leaned back and fell down onto the couch. 

“I thought you said you’d always pick up if I called! You can’t go back on your word now, my Iwa-chan~!” he whined.

“I take it back. I forgot to take into account how annoying you are sometimes.”

As Hajime headed towards the foyer to put on his shoes, Tooru wrapped his arms around his waist to keep him in one place. His own body threatened to slip off the couch, but the way Hajime’s abs contracted at the sudden contact of his arms made butterflies flutter in his stomach, especially as he felt each individual ab underneath his forearms, and he forgot about his own position. “No, no, no! Don’t leave me, Iwa-chan. I promise I won’t call you at 2 in the morning! I was kidding!” 

Hajime squeezed his eyes shut in annoyance, the veins in his neck popping. “Stop fondling my abs, Shittykawa,” he said as Tooru rubbed his palms over his stomach, feeling the dips of his abs underneath his shirt.

“Sorry, sorry. I was just trying to remind myself what I was missing. Now I have motivation to exercise and regain my abs from my glory days,” Tooru said as he slipped off the couch and removed his hands from Hajime’s stomach.

“Calling high school your “glory days” isn’t something to brag about. And didn’t you forget your ban?”

Tooru’s jaw dropped, and he stood on his feet to point an accusatory finger at Hajime. “That ban you made in high school on me being unable to touch your muscles is unfair! 

“You don't need to be feeling my muscles every chance you get!”

“But it makes me happy!”

“Get better hobbies!”

“No! Lemme feel your arms! You still haven’t bench pressed me like you said you would!” Tooru reached hand towards Hajime’s arms to wrap around his biceps, but the man yanked it back out of his reach, the plastic bag in his hand rustling and catching his attention. “Ooh, what’s in the bag?”

When he leaped for it, Hajime pulled it away from his hands and placed a hand on Tooru’s forehead to hold him back. “I was going to be nice and give this to you, but with the way you’re acting now, I don’t think it’ll be necessary anymore.”

At those words, Tooru stopped struggling against his palm and sat down on his knees. “I’ll be a good boy, so please lemme see what’s in the bag.” He looked up at Hajime with wide eyes and a trembling bottom lip, but the puppy dog eyes didn’t work on the other man, who just gave him a disgusted look. “Oh, come on! What’s in the bag?” He made grabby hands toward it, and Hajime struggled to keep it out of his reach as Tooru’s weight on his legs made him five seconds away from tumbling to the ground. “Gimme, gimme, gimme!”

After feeling himself almost topple over, Hajime held up his hands to admit defeat. “Okay! Shut up, dipshit.” He reached a hand into the bag and pulled out a familiar packaging that made saliva fill Tooru’s mouth in an instant as he made heart eyes at the food. “It’s milk bread.”

“M-milk bread?” 

“This was going to be my “cheer you up” food after everything calmed down, but you returned to normal quicker than I expected, so I don’t think you’ll need this anymore.” He slipped his hand back into the bag, the milk bread disappearing from Tooru’s expectant eyes that widened in shock as his mouth dropped open in disbelief at his true love shoved his other true love into a bag.

“Wait a damn minute! What do you mean I don’t need that! I’m still very heartbroken, and the only way I can be cured is to eat milk bread while feeling your arm muscles.” He pushed out his bottom lip and made it wobble as he fixed Hajime with puppy dog eyes again in hopes of convincing him to give him his beloved food. 

“Stop that. You look hideous.”

“No, not until you give me the milk bread. I deserve it! I could have sent you fifty texts last night before I cried myself to sleep, but I held back!”

“You idiot.” 

Tooru readied himself to open his mouth to complain once more, but when Hajime shoved the bag in his face, he shut his lips in an instant and snatched the bag from his grip before the man could decide to take it back. He reached into the bag, his eyes lighting up when he saw the multiple packages of milk bread. If he could kiss Hajime now, he would do it.

“You can eat those whenever you feel like it. Now let’s head to uni before it’s too late.”

“But I haven’t gotten to feel your arm muscles yet!” Tooru said, and Hajime turned around to give him a glare, his lips curling up into a snarl.

“Get the hell up, you fucker. Find something else to fondle other than my muscles,” he told the other as he headed towards the front door. 

“Aw, I know you like it though. You can’t lie to me, Iwa-chan!” 

Hajime whipped around to look at Tooru, fire burning in his eyes. He reached a hand out to grab at the bag in Tooru’s hands. “Give me the damn milk bread back. You don’t deserve it any more.”

Tooru yanked the bag out of his reach and snapped his jaws at his fingers. “No! It’s mine now, bitch! No takesies backsies.”

“God, you're annoying.”

“But you can never hate me.”

“You're right about that. And for that reason,” Hajime jabbed a finger into Tooru’s forehead, “don't cry yourself to sleep anymore. If you know I won't hate you, then stop thinking I will, got it?” Tooru nodded, and Hajime let out a breath through his nose. “Good. Now let’s get going.”

As Tooru scrambled to get his shoes on and his bag ready for his classes, Hajime waited for him at the door before they both headed out of his apartment and towards their university. While walking, Tooru hummed to himself as he stood beside Hajime, his hands circling around his friend’s biceps while the bag of milk bread hung around his elbow.

“I thought I said not to touch my arms,” Hajime said as he glanced over at a happy Tooru. Tooru’s lips puckered into a pout as his eyebrows furrowed and creased his forehead at his friend’s words. 

“Aw, come on! I deserve this!” He pushed his face closer to Hajime’s. “Don't you remember how I said I cried myself to sleep? Don't you feel bad? if you let me touch your arms, it’ll make up for it~” 

His sing-song tone made Hajime sigh and roll his eyes. “Fine, go ahead.”

Tooru smiled and tightened his hands around his muscles. “Iwa-chan, you’re so nice.” His eyes widened when he felt the muscles tense beneath his touch. “Ooh did your arm muscles get bigger.” He detached a hand from Hajime’s arm to poke at his bicep that flexed each time he squeezed Hajime’s.“Maybe I should start working out again.”

“I’ve offered to let you work out with me in the gym on countless occasions, and you always turn me down.” 

“I’m afraid I would distract all the people if I went to the gym with you.” He flipped his hair over his shoulder. “I couldn’t bear with the guilt if people got injured while staring at my beauty.”

Without a word, Hajime sped up his pace, his arm pulling free from Tooru’s grip. As his hand fell down to his side, Tooru stretched out his other hand at Hajime’s retreating figure.

“Ah! Wait up, Iwa-chan!”

“Someone’s chipper today,” Tooru’s classmate, Aikawa Daisuke, said as Tooru skipped to his seat and plopped into it with a wide smile on his face.

“Oh, my! How did you _ know _ ?” Tooru replied, sarcasm dripping from his words as he placed a hand on his chest and made over exaggerated facial expressions with each word.

Daisuke rolled his eyes. “Just tell me what the fuck happened. I’m not gonna guess like the fifty million other times you made me.”

“Ugh, rude! I thought you enjoyed guessing games” Tooru scoffed, but he pulled out the plastic bag Hajime had given him regardless. Daisuke’s lazy eyes watched as a bag of milk bread slipped out and sat in Tooru’s hands. “Iwa-chan gave me milk bread! Haha, sucker! You don’t get shit! It’s all mine from precious Iwa-chan.” 

Daisuke rolled his eyes and propped his cheek up on a fist. “So based off of that, I'm guessing things are going pretty well.” His eyes flitted to the bag as Tooru pulled out a bag of milk bread and opened it, slipping a piece of bread out of the wrapping to shove into his mouth. “You had me worried for a second when you sent me a voice message of you blabbering.”

Tooru swallowed the chunk of bread in his mouth. “Yeah, we fixed the little issue. And he let me feel his arm muscles, so it's pretty much a win for me.” He popped the rest of the slice into his mouth and grabbed out another one.

Daisuke nodded and leaned back in his seat. “I see. Still planning on figuring out how to make him fall in love with you?” 

“Obviously,” Tooru said with a roll of his eyes. “Have I  _ ever  _ given up before?”

“Yes, many times.” Daisuke put up a finger. “Like that one time the professor asked if you wanted to do a 25-page essay for extra credit, and you said you would, but then you gave up before you finished the first page.” Another finger up. “Or that other time, you know, when you said you would try out for the theater club even though you're not in the acting department and then you gave up before you memorized your lines. You wanted to act but not what they wanted you to say. Are you really that egotistical?” Before Tooru could open his mouth to argue, he put up a third finger. “Or, this might be a stretch, but, you know, there’s also that time when you went to that drinking party, and you were in a drinking battle with one of the other guys from our department, and you gave up after one drink.” He put his fingers down and rested his head on his fist, a devilish smile on his face. “Do you want me to keep going? Cuz I can.”

Tooru sighed and waved a dismissive hand as he grabbed another piece of bread. “Okay, okay. I get it, but this won't be like those, honey. I've been in love with him for Lord knows how long, probably since diaper days, so you  _ know  _ this isn't just a one-time thing. I have been thinking ever since elementary school about how to get him to fall in love with, but he's as straight as a damn ruler.” He flopped his torso across his desk, his arms hanging off the edge, and he shoved the piece of bread in his mouth before he angrily chomped on it while sulking on his desk. 

“Even a ruler can bend under a certain amount of pressure,” Daisuke said as he crossed his arms and watched Tooru’s eyes light up from his words.

In an instant, Tooru sat up and pointed at Daisuke. “So you're saying I just have to  _ seduce  _ him.”

The incredulous he fixed the man with did nothing to get rid of the twinkle in his eyes. “No. Nowhere did I say to do that.”

“You were implying it.”

“No, I wasn't. I-” The classroom door opened and shut with a loud bang. Tooru jumped from the sudden noise, and Daisuke released an irritated sigh.. “Shit, the professor’s here.” He pulled out his computer and opened it up, giving Tooru a mock sad face. “I would love to hear more about your plans to seduce Hajime, but, you know, statistics is more important. I'm sure you understand.”

Tooru shoved one more piece of bread into his mouth before he put the bag next to his bag on the floor and gave Daisuke a glare. “Oh shut up.”

Daisuke focused his attention on the front as the teacher stood at their podium, and he tapped his fingers on the table. “It would be my pleasure.”


End file.
